Rafael Nadal Rolls Into 2nd Round At French Open As He Pursues His 14th Title

Rafael Nadal may have a chronic left foot problem and stress fracture in one of his ribs, but none of it appeared to matter in his first match at Roland Garros on Monday.

The 13-time French Open champion and 21-time Grand Slam winner notched seven service breaks en route to a routine 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Australia’s Jordan Thompson in two hours. He improved to 106-3 at the event.

“It is a good start, of course,” said Nadal in his post-match press conference. “I played good for a while, then [there were] things that I could do better and I need to do better. But it is a positive start, and that’s given me a chance to have one more day of practice tomorrow and then another chance after tomorrow.”

Nadal, who turns 36 on June 3, would need to win six more matches to capture his 14th Roland Garros title and it won’t be easy. Because he is ranked No. 5 in the world — and seeded No. 5 in Paris —he was drawn to potentially meet world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

The winner could face 19-year-old Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.

Next up for Nadal is Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who beat three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in four sets.

Young guns like Reilly Opelka and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also in Nadal’s quarter before a possible trifecta of Djokovic, Alcaraz and then Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev in the final

“When we talk about favorites for Roland Garros and the clay, Nadal has to be right up there,” Djokovic said Friday.

Said Nadal of potentially being the favorite: “For sure not, because the results say that I am not. But you never know what can happen.”

Roland Garros could have opted to seed Nadal higher than 5, which might have made his draw easier, but went strictly by the rankings.

“This draw brings up the familiar question yet again, should majors (Wimbledon does already) use the official rankings as just a part of the computation in determining seedlings,” Patrick McEnroe said.

Nadal, who is dealing with a “chronic” foot injury that says makes him limp” many days of my life,” won the Australian Open after Djokovic was deported ahead of the tournament he has won nine times because of his failure to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

But Nadal has not won a clay court tournament heading into Paris, and lost in straight sets to Alexander Zverev in the Rome quarterfinals.

Djokovic, who is set to play later Monday, is coming off winning Rome and looks to be back in form after not playing much early in the season. McEnroe called Djokovic the favorite on a recent Podcast with me.

The 35-year-old Djokovic is the defending champion in Paris after ousting Nadal in an epic semifinal a year ago that ended Nadal’s 35-match winning streak at the event, and then coming back from 0-2 down against Tsitsipas in the final to capture his 19th major title.

Jim Courier, the four-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1, said on Tennis Channel of Djokovic: “I think he’s perfectly primed [for Roland Garros]. He’s erased the questions that are now all of sudden firmly in front of Rafa Nadal.”